Most Discussed

AMD chief forced out due to poor tablet showing

updated 08:15 am EST, Tue January 11, 2011

by MacNN Staff

AMD CEO Meyer pushed out due to tablets

The sudden ouster of AMD's CEO Dirk Meyer was owed to poor competition against Apple and Intel in tablets, insiders said Tuesday. Although the company didn't give a formal explanation, those aware said the board of directors forced him out as they were frustrated with a lack of growth in server-class hardware and the tablet field established by the iPad. A presentation in November revealed that Meyer just wasn't moving fast enough for the board's liking, the WSJ said.

Company representative Drew Praire didn't confirm the explicit reasons but did acknowledge that Meyer had been asked to quit as he wasn't growing the company quickly enough. "We're marching in the right direction, but the issue was just with the pace and finding ways to accelerate the pace," he explained.

AMD has had very little presence in tablets, even compared to the still struggling Intel. Where Intel has always been in conventional Windows tablet PCs and has landed a handful of key, newer design tablets like the Samsung Sliding PC 7, AMD has been virtually non-existent in the area and thus has had no answer either to Atom-based tablets or to Apple. Chips like the Athlon Neo, Turion Neo and the new Fusion E-series usually consume more power than an Atom and would most likely end up in a larger design that wouldn't compete in portability or battery life with either Intel or ARM-based designs like the iPad or Galaxy Tab.

In servers, the Opteron family has often performed better and comes in versions with as many as 12 cores, but Intel's Xeon family continues to dominate.

Company co-founder Jerry Sanders has already weighed in on the departure and accused AMD of a knee-jerk reaction where it didn't get an immediate answer to tablets. The board was just hoping for a "magic bullet" that would suddenly give it an edge over a weak spot in Intel's line, he said.

AMD's few wins in recent memory have focused mostly on the results of its acquisition of ATI, including both its Radeon HD graphics and Fusion chips that build the graphics directly into the processor core.

TAGS

TOTAL_COMMENTS Comments

The reason the majority of tablets have and will fail, is the fixation on hardware and specs. The days of slapping any old jumble of components into a big box, loading Windows and making a profit are OVER.

What the hardware dudes fail to understand is that in the mobile space, it's the software that makes the hardware. And the two together make a usable product.

Being ousted is hardly a problem for a dude of his caliber. He should have a new job in a day or two making more money than his last gig. He was moving at too slow a pace? It's amazing if anyone can keep up with Apple since Apple is likely planning for years in advance. Practically no one foresaw that the tablet age was coming in 2010.

Login Here

Now AAPL Stock: 113.95 ( + 1.83 )

Cirrus creates Lightning-headphone dev kit

Apple supplier Cirrus Logic has introduced a MFi-compliant new development kit for companies interested in using Cirrus' chips to create Lightning-based headphones, which -- regardless of whether rumors about Apple dropping the analog headphone jack in its iPhone this fall -- can offer advantages to music-loving iOS device users. The kit mentions some of the advantages of an all-digital headset or headphone connector, including higher-bitrate support, a more customizable experience, and support for power and data transfer into headphone hardware. Several companies already make Lightning headphones, and Apple has supported the concept since June 2014. http://bit.ly/29giiZj

Share

Developer163d

Apple Store app offers Procreate Pocket

The Apple Store app for iPhone, which periodically rewards users with free app gifts, is now offering the iPhone "Pocket" version of drawing app Procreate for those who have the free Apple Store app until July 28. Users who have redeemed the offer by navigating to the "Stores" tab of the app and swiping past the "iPhone Upgrade Program" banner to the "Procreate" banner have noted that only the limited Pocket (iPhone) version of the app is available free, even if the Apple Store app is installed and the offer redeemed on an iPad. The Pocket version currently sells for $3 on the iOS App Store. [32.4MB]

Share

163d

Porsche adds CarPlay to 2017 Panamera

Porsche has added a fifth model of vehicle to its CarPlay-supported lineup, announcing that the 2017 Panamera -- which will arrive in the US in January -- will include Apple's infotainment technology, and be seen on a giant 12.3-inch touchscreen as part of an all-new Porsche Communication Management system. The luxury sedan starts at $99,900 for the 4S model, and scales up to the Panamera Turbo, which sells for $146,900. Other vehicles that currently support CarPlay include the 2016 911 and the 2017 models of Macan, 718 Boxster, and 718 Cayman. The company did not mention support for Google's corresponding Android Auto in its announcement. http://bit.ly/295ZQ94

Share

Industry163d

Apple employees testing wheelchair features

New features included in the forthcoming watchOS 3 are being tested by Apple retail store employees, including a new activity-tracking feature that has been designed with wheelchair users in mind. The move is slightly unusual in that, while retail employees have previously been used to test pre-release versions of OS X and iOS, this marks the first time they've been included in the otherwise developer-only watchOS betas. The company is said to have gone to great lengths to modify the activity tracker for wheelchair users, including changing the "time to stand" notification to "time to roll" and including two wheelchair-centric workout apps. http://bit.ly/2955JDa

Share

Troubleshooting163d

SanDisk reveals two 256GB microSDXC cards

SanDisk has introduced two 256GB microSDXC cards. Arriving in August for $150, the Ultra microSDXC UHS-I Premium Edition card offers transfer speeds of up to 95MB/s for reading data. The Extreme microSDXC UHS-I card can read at a fast 100MB/s and write at up to 90MB/s, and will be shipping sometime in the fourth quarter for $200. http://bit.ly/294Q1If

Share

Upgrades/storage163d

Apple's third-quarter results due July 26

Apple has advised it will be issuing its third-quarter results on July 26, with a conference call to answer investor and analyst queries about the earnings set to take place later that day. The stream of the call will go live at 2pm PT (5pm ET) via Apple's investor site, with the results themselves expected to be released roughly 30 minutes before the call commences. Apple's guidance for the quarter put revenue at between $41 billion and $43 billion. http://apple.co/1oi1Pbm

Share

Investor164d

Twitter stickers slowly roll out to users

Twitter has introduced "stickers," allowing users to add extra graphical elements to their photos before uploading them to the micro-blogging service. A library of hundreds of accessories, props, and emoji will be available to use as stickers, which can be resized, rotated, and placed anywhere on the photograph. Images with stickers will also become searchable with viewers able to select a sticker to see how others use the same graphic in their own posts. Twitter advises stickers will be rolling out to users over the next few weeks, and will work on both the mobile apps and through the browser. http://bit.ly/29bbwUE